Tip Jars. What's your opinion?

Hey everyone! Every Sunday morning my wife drives me north to my new dispensary for.... you know.... Anyways, we pass The MGM Grand casino on the way. I always dream of robbing the place. Nah, not really, really quick that is.
At the business that I go to, they have a counter for regular orders and also pre-orders. At each register there is a tip jar. I always get deals, so I usually leave a dollar or two.
The questions are what's your opinion on tip jars and what if any do you usually give?
Someday I'm going to leave them one of these for reaction purposes :

 

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I have a different approach for gratuity payments, rather than a "sharing system" where the "less productive" get an equal or better portion of contributions.

I regularly have in my hand, dollar bills as a reward for those that have regularly provided a service not delivered by their peers.

The amount is proportionate to the difficulty of my request, or their effort (e.g. postal employee carrying a heavy shipment to my vehicle, => $5)!

I insist that they take the reward, often in a "hand-shake", and as in the past before my offers, the service is extraordinary!

 

Your approach, as admirable as you try to make it sound, is insultingly condescending in your description as a 'reward'. Similar to giving a treat to a dog for performing a learned trick. Or possibly attempting to condition the 'reward' recipient for future interactions.

I am an extremely generous tipper. However, my offer of a monetary thank you for a service provided is never thought of as a 'reward'. It is merely a gracious way to extend my gratitude to someone who either offered their assistance, went above and beyond their typical level of service, or went out of their way to help make my life a bit easier.

Describing your generous cash offering the way you do negates the intention with which I'm pretty sure you meant it. Possibly semantics, but if you handed your 'reward' to the person providing you with kindness, and simultaneously said to them, 'here's a reward for helping me', I wouldn't be the least bit surprised if some of those recipients declined your offer, on principle. Sometimes ones approach to a good act means as much or more than the act itself.

 

We've tipped a certain waitress very well over the years. Not sure why we started doing so. She's an excellent waitress and we have gotten to know her well (and vice versa) on a limited personal basis. It does occur to us, though, that we get excellent perks - a table when ever we want (as long as we call her directly and with a very reasonable lead time), a standing order for a martini that arrives moments after we arrive, and an occasional free bottle of wine.

I can't complain but I also can't deny thinking that tipping is a form of bribery akin to giving a dog a treat, slipping a few large bills to your favorite politician (is there such a thing?), and, at the same time, also very condescending. Yes, it is motivation to the service industry, thus it is also very demeaning. When in areas of the world where tipping is not done, the service industry is paid well (I guess) and where simply doing a good job to stay in business is motivation enough.

Did some one say treat? Nom nom? Yes please!

 

There is a coffee shop next to my job called Patent Pending Coffee. Every day I sweep their sidewalk and I get a free cup of coffee whenever I want. I don't over do it so it's usually just once a week. I leave a dollar in their tip jar even though the barista tells me I don't have to tip.
He knows I collect coins so he saves the foreign coins customers leave in the tip jar. He even gave me a Mercury Dime once.

 

We don't eat out very often and when we do we patronize one particular restaurant. I am a generous tipper, always with cash even when paying for the meal with a CC. I also pretip with a small bottle of wine giving the server the bottle when we arrive telling them to enjoy the wine with the crew when the shift is over. Last time we were there we sat in the bar/porch area where the chef/owner was doing the books. I mentioned that I wished he put my favorite dessert on the menu. It's been 15 years since the dessert last appeared on the menu. At the end of the meal the owner snuck in from behind the bar carrying my favorite dessert.

In case you're wondering the dessert is a cored Granny Smith apple filled with diced apple pieces cooked in cinnamon and syrup topped with a scoop of homemade cinnamon ice cream.

 

Like @masterswimmer I too am a generous tipper. The 21st century version of work ethic and service have an entirely different meaning than they did not all that long ago. If I receive exceptional service, I respond with a generous tip. I drive my truck through a car wash every Sunday. The young fellow that mans the car wash does nothing more than guide me onto his trolley. It was 104 degrees on Sunday and he guided me on with a very sweaty smile. I came out the other end and walked over and handed him a twenty for nothing more than his smile on a miserably hot day.

 

My word that sounds tasty!

 

I think that, as a society, we should move away from the institution of tipping all together.

 

Most places I go to that have a tip jar are places where
I do half the work, Subway, McDonalds. What angers me
is when I go to a sit down restaurant and the server brings
me the check. I leave the tip on the table and go to the
register to pay the check. There at the register there is a
tip jar.

 

Working in restaurants when I was a high school student during the summer vacations and right after graduating high school, plus my mother being a waitress for my entire childhood, I know what it's like standing on your feet all day long working hard to serve customers. And I remember how nice it was to have cash in my pocket at the end of the shift when I leave.

For those reasons, I usually tip very generously when it comes to tipping the individual who actually provided service to me. My tip is usually 3 and a half times the tax. So, for example, if the tax is $2 I will give between $7 - $8 tip (rounded up) sometimes. On average though, I give a $10 tip. How the waiter and waitress' do it around here is, when they get their tips all tallied up at the end of their shift, the nice one's will then tip the cooks and busboys accordingly to the support services they provided them. So when the waiter/waitress' get tips, they would share some with those who helped them do their job. That's why I do 3 and a half times the tax. 2 for the waiter/waitress and the other 1 and a half to those who helped them.

I had an elder friend who didn't own a car so every Saturday I'd drive to her house, pick her up and we'd go to the grocery store for the heavy stuff she can't carry on the bus during the week. She used to tip 2 times the tax as a standard. This is where I got the idea to base the tip from how much the tax is.

 

Question for y'all since we are on the subject of tipping.... Is it true that if I add my tip to my credit card balance at the end of the meal that the server has to forfeit a portion of that tip to the restaurateur?

 

I worked as a waiter in college and my kids had service jobs when they were teenagers - I've been lucky in life (knock on wood) and I tip well to try and share my good luck and maybe make someone smile. One note, a point of misunderstanding that I see a lot, is that tips in restaurants / food service are NOT gifts. They are INCOME according to our tax laws and this is important because gifts (below $18,000 individually per year) are not reportable, not deductible and most importantly to the recipient - not taxable - whereas tips are taxable and considered income. Tips are a weird thing, primarily an American problem, where we have employers and employees who are relying on the generosity of customers for what is often the largest part of their base pay, yet most folks I know don't think of it that way, they think of it as "extra" or an indication of their level of satisfaction / generosity. I hope we move to a more European system (or better!) where people in those jobs get sufficient base pay to meet their living expenses and tips aren't relied on, at least so much, as income. It's not a very good system in my view, but while we've got it, I'm going to tip generously and encourage others to do the same, if and when they can.

 

Don't give nothin' to nobody and dat's all I got to say about dat.
BUT, if you absolutely insist on getting a tip from me....marry the Dean's Daughter.

 

That is a very good question.

 

I have no idea. I always give tips in cash, regardless if I'm paying my bill with cash or credit card. I don't want to pay interest on the tips I'm giving out.

 

I'd assume that's for people picking up to-go orders.

 

Seems to me we had an exposé or two about that in the last few years locally. If I'm remembering correctly, restaurants are not supposed to grab part of the tip, but some do, and some have gotten in trouble for it.

I tip with cash, not because of this, but because I want my tips to reward/support my server, not my credit card company.

 

The places I go divide the tips on credit cards between the workers. They receive it on their paychecks as normal income. The business takes out State and Federal taxes, Social Security and health insurance on all income. It actually helps the workers from having to come up with a bunch of money when they file their tax returns. Many food service workers get way behind on taxes.

Cash tips are almost an honesty thing. The worker should report the income but some don't. The business compare what each worker reports. They can tell when someone is not being honest and they have a talk with them. If what the worker reports is below the average it's also possible they are a really poor server.

I pay cash and let the servers decide how honest they want to be.

 

It's surprising how many people are confused about this, probably because of politicians, and believe there is a "gift tax." There is no tax on the giver until the giver's total gifts exceed the lifetime exclusion amount, which is currently $13.61 million or $27.22 million for a married couple, and there is never a tax on the recipient no matter how large the gift is. Even over $18k the recipient doesn't have to report it, but the giver does, and it just gets subtracted from their lifetime exclusion. People get all worked up about this supposed "gift tax" and it's sibling the "death tax", when in reality nobody needs to even think about it unless your estate is worth over $13.61/27.22 million.

I dislike tipping culture in general, and if you travel overseas the US is pretty much the only country that does it. I much prefer a tip jar over that stupid screen they flip around with tips already calculated to pressure you into tipping. I tip generously for sit down service, but not so much for someone to hand me a coffee over the counter. For me there's no expectation of better service, because every time I go somewhere there are new employees. I may be sporadically frequenting a business for 20-30 years and nobody there knows that I'm a "regular." But I waited tables and bartended for several years in my youth, and I know how hard it is, so it's not a "reward", it's their salary. Which is a bizarre concept.